A Natural Family
by TheFoundersDaughter
Summary: What if, in the episode "Natural Law" Seven and Chakotay couldn't get out from beneath the barrier? What if they had to stay with the Ventu tribe? This is what happened...Co-written with scifiromance! [HIATUS - BEING RE-WRITTEN]
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Because scifiromance has been bugging me on and on and on and on and **_**on**_** about doing this fic, I've decided to finally release it out into the public eye. I really hope you like ****it ****Oh, and from the first =A= and the second =A= scifiromance wrote that! She's a star!**

**Summary: What if Chakotay and Seven couldn't get out from beneath the barrier in 'Natural Law'? This is my version of the episode, and what happens after it.**

=A=

Seven of nine, tertiary adjunct of the unimatrix zero one and Chakotay Amal stood side by side staring at the useless piece of equipment that had done nothing to help their situation of being stuck underneath a shield, with a tribe called the Ventu. The girl whom had helped Seven get back to the tribe and showed her the mystical waterfall stepped forward, and reached her hand out.

"No!" Seven shouted, but it was too late. The girl touched the metal, and her body convulsed into a series of jerks as it fell backwards. Seven ran to the girl and mechanically checked her pulse. It was slightly fast, but the only problem she could see on the young child was burn marks on her fingertips.

"Is she okay?" Chakotay asked Seven as he kneeled down next to her. Two others kneeled down as well, and being as it was a man and a woman, it was easy to assume that they were the girl's parents.

"She should be fine. Hopefully. Take her into the cave…"

Chakotay nodded, and wrapped his arms underneath the girl's body, lifting her up. He walked with the girl in his arms, her parents, and the tribe leader followed him as he walked with Seven. Eventually the rest of the Ventu tribe followed them to the cave, watching with apprehension as Chakotay laid the unconscious girl on the grass laden rock bed.

The tribe leader tapped Chakotay on his shoulder, and he turned round, to see him sign something he didn't understand quite yet. The tribe leader saw the puzzled look on his face, and pointed to the girl, then did the sign for 'well'.

Chakotay understood this time. He wanted to know if the girl would be okay. Chakotay slapped his left hand over his right, saying 'yes' in the native language

When he turned back, Seven was sitting beside the girl, idly stroking the side of her head. "We're stuck here…aren't we?"

The former commander sighed and nodded, "Yeah…I think we are."

=A=

"Chakotay!" Chakotay looked up from the warm fire he was dreamily studying in

the Ventu's cave to see Seven enter, in Ventu dress since she'd given up on

her biosuit as impractical a few days after their shuttle crash.

He smiled at her warmly, raising an eyebrow when he saw her phaser lying

limply in her hand and nothing edible in her arms. "No luck?" he asked.

She shook her head as she joined him by the fire, wrapping her blanket around

her legs to keep out the slight chill in the evening air. "I believe that the

animals are adapting to my hunting methods." She admitted.

"Well, maybe you should trade in your phaser for one of these." He replied,

pulling out not only his sling but the small dead mammal, similiar to a

rabbit, he'd killed for their evening meal that morning.

Seven stared at him in disbelief, "You can use that...weapon?"

He laughed. "Obviously!" His laugh earned them amused glances from the Ventu

at other hearths and he watched them discuss their alien visitors in their

fluid, emphatic sign language. "Do you think we should teach them to talk?"

"Perhaps, but their language seems to serve them perfectly adequately."

"That's easy for you to say, you're practically fluent!" Chakotay responded in

a teasing tone, smiling as she blushed. It was true, after Seven had accepted

they weren't leaving, she'd spent the last four months putting her

photographic memory to good use and learning the Ventu language, although

Chakotay knew she was as aburpt in sign as she was in spoken language.

"You were the one who realised it was a complete language Chakotay." Seven

pointed out with an apologetic tone in her voice.

He was about to reply when the older brother of Seven's friend appeared at the

cave entrance, Chakotay had taken a dislike to the man, the lewd looks he

sometimes shot Seven's way made his chest tighten in anger, although Seven, as

she had with the Doctor and Harry, appeared completely unaware of the

attraction. Now though, the man looked frantic, and Chakotay caught the words,

"youngest brother", "fall", "help". Seven understood more of it for she was up

in an instant, helping as the young boy, bleeding from his head, was carried

in and Chakotay immediately brought over the tricorder, though he could

immediately see it was hopeless. He shot Seven a look but she ignored him,

continuing to try and resusitate the child. Finally, as the Ventu seemed to

realise the situation and cry, he placed a hand on her shoulder, "Seven..."

She didn't let him go any further, bolting from the cave at full speed, he

felt he had no choice but to follow her and within a few minutes found her

collapsed against a tree, her body shaking. The sound of sobs, a sound he'd

never heard from her throughout their four month ordeal, broke his heart, as

did her next words, "I'm...sorry..."

"For crying?" He asked incredulously, "Seven that's natural, you just saw

something horrible, you did all you could..."

"No! No I didn't!" She burst out, "We're still trapped here aren't we? If

I...had found a way to..."

Without thinking, he was down on his knees beside her and had pulled her into

his arms. "Don't you dare feel guilty about this... Without you, we'd have

been fried on that sheild."

Seven stiffend in shock at the hug at first but found herself relaxing into it

in relief as his sincre, soothing words washed over her and she allowed

herself to take comfort from his physical closeness. Finally, unable to bottle

in four months worth of guilt, grief and fear, she let herself cling to him,

weeping into his chest.

=A=

The boy had been the tribe leaders youngest son, and his blood had stained the sandy floor of the cave. The Ventu had tried to rub it away, but Seven had convinced them that it would do them no good. The boy had been called A'Kirinta.

Seven pushed her body into Chakotay's at A'Kirinta's burial. The body was taken out into the depths of the forest, and was put into a deep hole in the ground. The women then placed large leaves over A'Kirinta's body, and the men scooped the soil up with their hands and filled the hole back up again.

Through the entire procession, Seven had remained as still as a statue, her eyes wide in grief. A'Kirinta had been Ol'iande's brother. Ol'iande was the tribe leader's second child, and the irl who had followed Seven on her first night with the grieved for Ol'iande and her family. This was the moment she seen how easily life was broken by nothing more than mere soil and trees.

"Seven?" Chakotay asked her in a small voice, wary of her actions. But what he did't expect, was for Seven to turn into him and tightened her arms round him. She let one, lone, single tear, drop from her eyelid.

**A/N: How was it? I hope it was okay, took me forever to think about the right context to use in this :L Anyways, please review! Love, Chaz x**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Hey all you little C/7 shippers! I've been asked numerous times to update this story, so, here you go! Scifiromance is an angel, and wrote a lot of this chapter, so yet again, a huge, massive, THANK YOU! 3 I still wonder why I was blessed with such a great friend :D :D : D  
>Just as a warning, there is major Angst in this one ;)<strong>

**Oh, and If I got where Tuvok's Pon Farr is wrong…sorry :/**

Chakotay lifted his head up from the piece of wood he was intricately carving as he saw the Ventu chief approach him, "May I join you Chakotay?" he asked, only vocalising his name and signing the rest.

Thankfully Chakotay's grasp of the language had greatly improved and he indicated the space beside him with curiosity in his eyes, "Of course sir, what can I do for you?"

"It concerns your sister..." The chief began but Chakotay stared at him, in confusion thinking he'd misunderstood the sign, since his only sister was a quadrant away on Earth.

"My sister?" He asked blankly, frowning.

"Se...ven..." The chief spelled out, still unused to speaking and adding the sign name for her, "gold haired woman".

"Seven?" Chakotay asked aloud before remembering to sign, "She's not my sister!"

"I apologise, we assumed, since we know nothing of the differences between your people's men and women, and since you share a hearth but not a sleeping place, that you were related but not mated..." The chief explained.

Chakotay choked, then coloured. Had they really been keeping tabs on his and Seven's sleeping habits? Taking a hasty swig from his water bag, he recovered himself, "We're friends...but not mated..." Seeing that the Ventu man was not following him, he changed tact. "Why did you want to talk to me about Seven?"

The chief smiled widely. "A'Kolitan has requested permission to mate her, since she is firstly of your tribe, it is your place to permit it."

Chakotay felt like he'd been hit over the head and without thinking said, "No!". Realising what he'd just said, that he was deciding Seven's fate like a cow at a cattle market, he backtracked, "I mean that he'd have to ask her..."

"Good. He'd make a good mate for her, talkative where she is not..." Noticing Chakotay's deepening scowl, the chief added, "Don't worry, O'liete needs a mate, you may have her if you wish."

"O'liete?" Chakotay squeaked, this was getting out of control!

Seven was sowing a ripped garment by the waterfall when she saw Ol'iande running towards her, already signing frantically, "Seven, guess who has asked to mate you?"

"Pardon?" Seven replied, perplexed.

Ol'iande ignored her and continued on regardless, "A'Kolitan has asked for you, it's all over the camp! Chief and Chakotay have already agreed to it and O'liete has already been chosen for Chakotay too..."

"Stop! Stop!" Seven exclaimed, "What do you mean mated?"

Ol'iande looked at her as if she was stupid, "Mated as in the ceremony, then children..."

"No I can't!" Seven cried, then backtracked "You said Chakotay wants Ol'iete?"

Ol'iande shrugged. "Apparently."

Seven felt hurt, anger and jealousy course violently through her and stood up, throwing the garment aside before storming off back to the cave.

"Chakotay!" She called with icy anger as she saw him and he hastily rose from where he'd been sitting with his head heavy in his hands.

"Good, Seven I need to talk to you..."

"Yes you do!" Seven replied hotly. "If you wanted Ol'iete so badly you could have told me and I would have moved, you don't have to throw me at A'Kolitan to get rid of me!" She shouted, losing control of her temper, "You don't even like A'Kolitan!"

"Sure as hell as I don't!" Chakotay retorted, letting his pent up emotions fly, "Especially since he had the balls to ask for you..."

Seven's face reddened, "You...you are...incorrigible!" she raged, turning on her heel and running from him.

"Seven!" He shouted after her, "For God's Sake Seven it was all a misunderstanding!"

"_Misunderstanding?"_ Seven shrieked, her hair flying around her face as she spun to face him again, "You have set me up to _mate_ with A'Kolitan! How can there be any _misunderstandings?"_

"Seven! I didn't set you up with anybody! The chief came to me, asking if you could be A'Kolitan's mate, and I told him to ask you! For all I knew, you might have wanted to be mated with him! It is not my fault that you got the entirely wrong end of the stick." Chakotay fumed. His eyes had taken on a certain gold glow in their bark coloured irises.

"Oh, so you_ don't_ want to be with O'liete then? Tell me that you didn't tell the chief that you wanted her and not me! _Tell me_!"

"I don't want_ her_! What do I have to do to prove to you that I don't want O'liete? I never have and I _never will_!" Chakotay had stepped closer to Seven, and now they could feel each other's breath on their throats. He held her to her position by putting his hands on his shoulders, "Do you want to know why I never want her?"

Seven folded her arms underneath her chest, and looked to the side, where the waterfall was. "Why?"

He put his finger beneath her chin, and gently turned her face back to his, and, looking deep into her sapphire eyes, lowered his face down to press his lips onto hers, in a soft, sweet kiss. When he pulled back from her, his forehead was leant onto Seven's, and his lips only an inch from hers, "That's why." He breathed, and put one hand at the nape of her back, and the other on the middle of her back, pulling her close as he kissed her again.

Seven unfolded her arms, and snaked them up to Chakotay's shoulders, and wrapped them around.

They had both wanted his for so long… and neither of them knew that Ol'iande was watching them both, with a huge grin on her face.

=A=

On Voyager, it was night, and Kathryn just couldn't sleep. Every time she closed her eyes, she entered a white space of nothing, and an image of Tuvok.

"God so help me I will _shoot_ the next person to request my presence!" she punched her bed, and slammed her face into her pillow. She was really regretting helping Tuvok with his Pon Farr last month. She was really feeling sick too. She'd have to see the Doctor in the morning, if not before.

A cramp twisted her stomach, and Kathryn clenched her fists over the intruding pain. "Ugh."

Tuvok being on his Pon Farr a month ago, Kathryn had thought it perhaps her duty as captain to help him through it. She never knew how much she felt towards him until she offered, and he accepted. Now, she just felt very awkward around him, and the stupid white space with Tuvok _in it_, wasn't helping in the slightest.

The cramp was getting worse, and Kathryn had had enough. She salvaged her comm. Badge from her bedside table and clicked it, "Janeway…to the…Doctor…" she wheezed out through the pain.

"Captain?" The Doctor asked through the comm. System, worry in his voice.

She clenched her teeth together, "I need…come to…my…quarters!"

"On my way."

For the three minutes it took the Doctor to get to her quarters, Kathryn thought she might die. The pain was such that it was hard for her not to scream. He entered the room with a medical pack, and rushed to her side when he saw her on her side, clutching her stomach like her life depended on it. He instantly scanned her, and – after checking the readings – pressed a hypospray into her jugular, releasing a liquid painkiller.

Kathryn gasped as the pain dissipated, and unclenched her tight fists. She panted, and wiped the sweat off of her forehead. "Wh-what the_ hell_…was that?"

"Pregnancy with a half-Vulcan child, that's what."

"Doctor, what're you talking about?"

"I am talking about when Tuvok had his Pon Farr, and you helped him through it."

Kathryn stared at him, "You're kidding right?"

"No."

Sure, she and Tuvok had gotten pretty close, meeting up after their shifts and kissing both in the Vulcan and human way, but she wasn't ready for a kid with him, even if she was thirty-seven. A thought struck her, "But there's only ever been four children born from a Vulcan and a human…"

"Actually, there has been hundreds more, Vulcan's just brought them up as full Vulcan's, telling them that their human parent had a disease, or was a step-parent. There have only been four that have been announced. I think you know them."

She nodded, "Elizabeth Tucker was the first one, created by a masochistic scientist from T'Pol, who worked aboard the USS Enterprise NX-1 with the Father Charles Tucker III. The second was Spock, and the third and fourth were twin girls, thirty years ago – T'Liz and Tiana." She rubbed her eyes, "I know too much sometimes…"

The Doctor sniggered, "Obviously you missed out on the lessons of contraception when you went to school."

"Obviously." Kathryn rolled her eyes, and laughed, before sobering, "Am I going to go through this every day?"

The Doctor nodded, "You should come to the Medical bay in the morning, before you go onto the bridge, and I'll give you a medication that will take away the pain and morning sickness."

"Okay…thank you." She'd have to tell Tuvok tomorrow, for tonight, she was just tired out.

**A/N: Sooo….I'm kind of happy with this chapter, romance with one pair, and a pregnancy with the other :O shocking! :D :D :D Please review! **


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Okay, so I'm having slight writer's block with 'Amy' at the moment, so that might not be updated for a while. If anyone is reading any of my other fics, I'm sorry about the slow updating of them too. :L Oh, and the fact that Tuvok went with Janeway during his Pon Farr, well, I'm kind of working on the basis that his wife died… I know, harsh, but I really wish that their pairing had been canon :D Plus, I know that a Vulcan pregnancy is longer than a humans, but I'm not exactly sure how much longer :/ If anybody knows, please tell me :3**

Seven woke up in the morning with a pair of strong, tanned arms holding her close to a warm body. She smiled drowsily, and snuggled herself closer to Chakotay. She thanked God – whoever he was – that she had had her emotional block taken out of her head. That was the thing she hated the Borg for the most. Not making her sterile. Because not having children, she could deal with. But not being able to love, it would have killed her, slowly, but surely.

"We should probably get up," Seven murmured into Chakotay's arm.

Chakotay tightened his arms around her, "I know, but I prefer this to doing work."

"True." She splayed her fingers open across the soft sand, and finally opened her eyes. The waterfall looked as beautiful as ever, but this certain morning; it looked more mystical than ever before. The sky was a deep blue, and small, wispy clouds floated through the air. She couldn't have imagined a more perfect scenario.

It had been six weeks since their first kiss, and neither could imagine being anywhere else but with the Ventu. True, Chakotay had wanted to return to Earth as much as many of the original crew, but what would have awaited him there? The Federation would be waiting to put shackles on his wrists as soon as he set foot on Earth, simply because he used to be a Marquis.

He silently kissed the back of Seven's neck, and smiled when he felt a shudder go down her spine. Maybe this was the time to ask her, he thought, and twined his fingers through hers. "Seven?"

"Hm?"

"Marry me?" he asked quietly into her ear.

Seven turned her head, so she was looking at his face, and stared into his eyes, "You mean it?"

"Of course I do! I love you." He lightly kissed her lips, and smiled softly, "So, will you?"

Seven's sudden hug was crushing, and she could feel tears of glee pool in her eyes, "_Yes!_ Yes I will Chakotay!" she took his face in her hands, and pulled it down to make his lips touch hers in a deep, passionate kiss.

=A=

On Voyager, there was an entirely different mood. Kathryn still hadn't told Tuvok that he was going to be a father. Again. Even after all this time, it was still hard for her to accept, and the white space in her head was getting worse and worse. Every time Tuvok was off duty, she would automatically go there. She hadn't even dared to tell the _imaginary_ Tuvok that she was pregnant, let alone the real one.

She was two and a half months gone, out of eleven months, and the baby was taking all of her energy. At least one day a week, she had to ask Tuvok or Harry to take the helm. She was going to see the Doctor – again – to have her weekly check-up. He'd ask her if she had told Tuvok about the baby yet, and yet again, she'd reply 'no'.

Kathryn straightened her uniform top over her slight bulge, and left her quarters. She knew she was getting funny looks from crew members, mainly because her top wasn't as form fitting as normal, and she had been acting queer around her current first officer. Many had assumed it was because it was odd having Tuvok as a first officer instead of Chakotay, but a few noticed it was something more.

The blushes on her cheeks, the times when she would subconsciously cover her abdomen with her hands, and how she had to go and see the Doctor so much.

She walked through the double doors of the medical bay, and stopped dead.

Tuvok was sitting on the main biobed, the Doctor injecting something into him with a hypo spray.

"Doctor, Tuvok." She greeted both men, and walked over to them.

"Ah, Captain, here for your check-up?" the Doctor asked whilst putting the hypo spray back on the tray, and smiling awkwardly at her.

Tuvok gave her a curt nod, and stood up, "Are we done, Doctor?"

The Doctor sighed, "Yes. You can go." Tuvok nodded again, and started to the doors. "Lie down on the bed please, Captain." Kathryn lay down, and waited for the scanning that would follow, "So, how have you been feeling this week?"

"Tired. And hungry. Especially for meat. That's normal, isn't it? Cravings?" she asked.

"Of course it is. I'd be slightly worried if _weren't_ getting any." He scanned over her head and her abdomen, and smiled, "You're both perfectly healthy and fine. I can even tell you the gender, if you want to know."

"You could?"

"Hm-hm."

"Oh, go on then, tell me."

"You are going to have a bouncing baby boy, on the seventeenth of June."

Kathryn grinned widely, and patted her small bump, "A boy. I always wanted a son when I was younger. Always said I'd call him Joseph. I better tell Tuvok soon. Perhaps that will make the white space in my head go away at last. I's getting beyond annoy-"

"You're pregnant?" Tuvok asked from where he had been standing like a statue near the doors.

"Told you to tell him when you found out." The Doctor muttered to Kathryn, and then went into his office, keeping out of the way.

"Uh…"

"Captain, you are pregnant?" Tuvok ever so slightly creased his brows, "Since when have you been…with child?"

"Take a wild guess, Tuvok. Who was I with, two and a half months ago?" she asked sarcastically. She stood up, and made for the doors. Tuvok grabbed her arm, and stopped her. "Let me go."

"Tell me who the father is…please." He rasped the last word, not used to using it.

Kathryn looked at him with her deep brown eyes, and said, "You." She tugged her arm out of Tuvok's grasp, and walked in a brisk pace to the bridge.

**A/N: ****I'm on a tightrope walk with this chapter, unsure if I love it or hate it. Please review :3 I'll give out cybercookies! Chaz~**


End file.
